or protection money, whether to English or
Scottish man."[34]

The significance of these provisions cannot be mistaken. They reveal the
anxiety of the English government to prevent, as far as possible, all
intercourse with Scottish Borderers. The offences referred to in the
foregoing list amounted to what is known as March Treason. Those who were
accused of this crime were tried by a jury, and if found guilty were put
to death without ceremony. "This was a very ordinary consummation," says
Sir Walter Scott, "if we can believe a story told of Lord William Howard
of Naworth. While busied deeply with his studies, he was suddenly
disturbed by an officer who came to ask his commands concerning the
disposal of several moss-troopers who had just been made prisoners.
Displeased at the interruption, the warden answered heedlessly and
angerly, 'hang them in the devil's name;' but when he laid aside his book,
his surprise was not little, and his regret considerable, to find that his
orders had been literally fulfilled."[35]

The duties devolving upon the Scottish wardens were not, in all respects,
the same as those which the English wardens were called upon to discharge.
This was due to some extent to the fact that the jurisdiction of the
Scottish wardens was circumscribed by the hereditary rights and privileges
of the great families who, within their own territories, exercised supreme
control. In addition to this, the hereditary judges had the power of
repledging; that is to say, they could reclaim any accused person from
courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction, and try him by their feudal authority.
But while the power of the wardens was thus considerably circumscribed,
they never hesitated, when they had the chance, to mete out summary
punishment to all offenders. If a thief was caught red-handed, or if the
evidence against him appeared at all conclusive, he was at once, and
without ceremony, strung up on the nearest tree, or thrown into the
"murder" pit. Indeed, the execution not unfrequently preceded the trial--a
circumstance which seems to have given rise to the well-know proverb about
"Jeddart Justice." On both sides of the Border, the same haste to get rid
of offenders was a noted feature of the times. This is evident from the
well-known English proverb which runs thus--

"I oft have heard of Lydford law,
Where in the morn men hang and draw,
And sit in judgment after."

The sitting in judgment, either before or a